


Free With the Insane

by Detavot



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Canon - Manga, Gen, Grelle and Ronald's relationship is so intriguing, I need to make fics about that as well, Manga & Anime, Ronald Knox deserves more fics and drawings, This character isn't really developed so I get to make him into whatever I want haha, This is a sort of introduction fic as I get used to the character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 16:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15822615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Detavot/pseuds/Detavot
Summary: Ronald Knox, freed from the cage and diving into insanity.





	Free With the Insane

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of people complain about the lack of Ronald Knox in our fandom and, honestly, same.

    "We are Grim Reapers," he had said. Ronald had forgotten who had said it, all the big-wigs looked the same to him if he were honest, but he had never forgotten what the man had said. He had never forgotten those cold, emotionless eyes through the polished steel glasses and that detached voice. "We have lost the sight of our future as we took our own lives, and thus must pay for our sins by viewing and taking the lives of others." 

    Ronald was trained at the academy, and each lesson took away his will and the colours he had once seen. Nothing but green remained. His vision was blurry, another reminder of the sin he had committed, and he could not feel the anger he had once felt. He was taken into God's golden cage. Forever trapped, forever a prisoner. 

    He remembered when he had first met Grelle Sutcliff. They had originally assigned Ronald as his partner due to Ronald's precise nature, probably hoping he'd rub off on the red-haired Reaper. That... wasn't exactly what happened.

    "You've got a blank stare, boy," Grelle Sutcliff said, his eyes studying him with a clear disdain. "They've already washed your head real nice, haven't they? Let this sinful maiden do you good." Ronald didn't exactly know why the man kept referring to himself as a woman, though he had heard from the others that Grelle Sutcliff was pretty messed up. 

      _You got assigned to that nut-job?_ One of them had said pityingly. _Don't stay by his side too long, you'll get his sickness, too._

    Ronald heeded the advice given to him. He talked with Grelle only when he needed to, and he only ever stuck around if it was necessary. In his free time... He didn't do much with the free time he was given. Checked over his paperwork, mostly. Then he began doing Grelle's paperwork just to lower his sentence and pass the time. 

    "You always work so diligently," Grelle conversed while they were reaping a woman and a man. "We still have our old feelings, you know? We feel tired, or crazed, or sad... Don't you feel bored?" 

    "I need to lower my punishment," Ronald answered. His voice sounded hollow even to his ears, but it was something he was used to hearing from the other Reapers as well. Grelle's voice, though, was very strange. He had a funny accent and talked with... something in his voice. Something that Ronald had forgotten long ago, despite being younger than Grelle.

    Grelle laughed, and the sound echoed in the empty house. "What does Heaven or Hell have to offer us? People who've forgotten how to die, that's all. Look at this one." Grelle stepped aside, letting Ronald see a strip of the Cinematic Records. That name was given to the memories of mortals long ago by a person Grelle had probably never heard of--but Grelle seemed to be the most enthusiastic Reaper about it, and he had found a way to drill the name into everyone else's brains as well. 

    Ronald took a step closer to the Cinematic Records and touched it with his Scythe, an actual scythe that was only a little bigger than the ones in training use. He began watching the person's life silently. He watched as the woman worked for his sons and daughters all her life, taking the abuse silently from her husband as she did so. He watched the woman make only a few pennies, none of which she ever used for herself. She died after the husband had taken his abuse too far, having no choice but to abandon her children to the man who had murdered her. The corpse of the man beside her wasn't her husband, Ronald realised. It was a police officer who had tried to stop the murder.

    "She worked hard for all her life," Grelle said. "She worked to get her children out of this mess, and hoped that maybe she'd get out of it, too. What did it achieve? What did every single one of her sufferings achieve, Ronald?" Ronald was silent as he cut the Cinematic Record and finally gave her rest. Do not get attached, they had warned him. 

    "She achieved a place up in Heaven," Ronald replied. 

    "And yet her children, the only people she had wanted to save and protect, remain here to rot. Do you think she will ever rest in peace? She won't. She won't ever rest." Grelle shut the woman's eyes, and Ronald wanted to pull on that damn Reaper's red hair for daring to make such a cruel joke.

    It was the first time in such long years that Ronald had felt the urge to do something, and he felt overwhelmed.

    "Is that why you never work on your sentence?" Ronald asked instead, still trying to grasp what exactly the red-head was telling him. "Because you think it won't matter in the end?" 

    "I _know_ it won't matter in the end," Grelle replied, rolling his eyes and checking his nails. "Heaven and Hell are full of people who are satisfied. They have done their deeds and their lives are over, there's nothing there. We're Grim Reapers. We are the very definition of unfinished lives. We're brainwashed to think that this place is meant to sayisfy us but... it's not. It's to make us into good little toys and willingly hand over our own reasonings. We're God's little failures, the ones who were unsatisfied enough to take their own lives, and He wants to quietly sweep us under the rug."

    Grelle's voice echoed in his ears at night and in the day. He thought it over and over again, and realised that Grelle was right. This place was just a way to subdue them. This whole job, this whole punishment was only to show them who was in charge, and how the one in charge wasn't happy with them. 

    Ronald finally figured out that something in Grelle's voice. It was insanity. But, Ronald guessed he should not be so surprised. Only someone so screwed over, so insane could be able to make sense in this world where nothing was ever explained. 

    "So, then, where are we going?" Ronald asked Grelle as he took their new assignment with a big grin. Grelle laughed.

    "Careful, boy... Someone might just think you're flirting with me."

    "I'd never dream of it, Mister Grelle. Everyone knows I'm more into brunettes, anyways." 

    It was hard to really understand the concept of Grelle's gender, but Grelle seemed happy enough with him saying whatever went so he just rolled with it. He was still diligent in both his and Grelle's paperworks, and never broke the rules. But... every now and then, he'd bend the rules a little for Grelle to take what she wanted or to give himself a little room to breathe. He quite liked being a Grim Reaper, and hoped his sentence would never end despite his decent work ethics. Though, it seemed he didn't need to worry as Grelle seemed to be dirtying both of their names. Ronald and Grelle were probably more intimate with William T. Spears and the big-wigs than any Reaper had been before or would ever be.

    Grelle always had an obsession. As one of her close friends, Ronald was obligated to listen to her talk about all sorts of things; though he didn't mind much since Grelle usually had interesting and very weird things to say. The newest obsession was about a kid and his demon butler--nicknamed "Bassy" and "that blue brat". Though Gtelle never really talked about the kid unless it was inevitable when telling stories about "Bassy", Ronald had to admit that both the kid and demon sounded interesting.

    Grelle would never give him false hope, that was something Ronald had learned over the years of their friendship. And if she was so thrilled about them having a larger role in the cases involving Phantomhive, Ronald would follow her anywhere she needed him to.

    He was free from the cage, and he'd go anywhere he desired. 

**Author's Note:**

> I am ashamed that after 18 works, this is my first one with Ronald. I shall strive to do better in the future ٩(๑`^´๑)۶


End file.
